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A few weeks ago, I got an automated email. My domain registration for www.pieareround.com was about to renew itself. At that point, I was faced with a decision: should I let the registration expire or should I re-commit myself to this blogging project. After all, it had been quite a while since I last written anything for this blog. My heart just hadn’t been in writing for the blog lately; the joy had kind of gone out of it. Combined with the time it took to document and write each post, I seriously considered abandoning the whole thing. But a funny thing happened. Just as I was contemplating giving it all up, I had several people ask me, unprompted, what happened to the blog and whether I was working on anything new. Coincidental timing, but it at least inspired me to give it another go. Continue reading →

Like this:

It must have been arrogance. There is no other explanation. I had read countless discussions of why biscuits had fallen flat—literally. But I didn’t think it would happen to me, even though it was my first attempt at biscuits. No, I thought I had beaten the game. I had acquired White Lily flour you see, the supposed secret to perfect biscuits. All I had to do was follow the recipe on the back of the bag, and my biscuits would be wonderful.

Like this:

A while ago, it was requested that I include more vegetarian recipes here on my blog. My best intentions to the contrary, I have utterly failed to do so. (I suppose it’s easy enough to make my Chicago-style pizza vegetarian; just leave off the sausage.) That request has caused me to realize just how central meat is to my cooking—at least to the cooking that I’m excited enough to write about. Regardless of the meal or course, meat seems to factor into my recipes fairly frequently.

There is one course though into which you’d really really have to try to incorporate meat. That course is dessert. So, that is what I will write about today: dessert.

This is not just any dessert mind you, this is a Peruvian dessert. At Tania’s urging, we’ve been doing a fair bit of Peruvian cooking. And this time, we made a dish called mazamorra morada. Mazamorra is…well, it’s a purple goo. With fruit in it. It’s a purple goo with fruit in it. I can’t really think of how better to describe it. It’s kind of like a pudding I guess, and kinda sorta like Jello—but not really. (Incidentally, they really like Jello in Peru. Maybe sometime I’ll get around to writing about torta helada, or Jello cake.)

I know that everyone says “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” And some people write entire books and blogs, just about breakfast. But I must confess: I’m not a regular breakfast eater. I have nothing against the meal mind you. It’s just that I’m really not that hungry until a few hours after I wake up, and by that time, I’m at work and it’s easier to wait for lunch time to roll around. Someone once suggested that I just wake up earlier. That suggestion was a non-starter; as much as I love food, I love sleeping more.

In stark contrast to myself, Tania is a breakfast lover. She eats breakfast pretty much every day, and it’s usually the same thing: oatmeal with bananas, cinnamon, Splenda, and vanilla. Woe is it to the one who gets between her and her oatmeal; there are very few things that could tear her away from a bowl of hot oats. If there is one thing that could do it however, it’s a dish that she calls “apple pancake.”

I’ve written at length about my own family food traditions. Apple pancake is one of Tania’s. Most commonly referred to as a Dutch Baby, sometimes as a puff pancake, and occasionally as an oven pancake, the apple pancake is akin to a large popover. If done properly, it will tower above the pan in which it is cooked.